PER CURIAM: The
Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) and respondent have entered into an
Agreement for Discipline by Consent pursuant to Rule 21, RLDE, Rule 413, SCACR,
in which respondent admits misconduct and agrees to the imposition of either an
admonition or public reprimand with the following conditions: 1) completion of
the Ethics School and Trust Account School portions of the Legal Ethics and
Practice Program within six (6) months of the imposition of discipline and 2)
payment of costs incurred by ODC and the Commission on Lawyer Conduct (the
Commission) in the investigation and prosecution of this matter within sixty (60)
days of the imposition of discipline. We accept the agreement, issue a public
reprimand, and order respondent to comply with the two conditions set forth
above.

Thereafter, respondent represented Client
A in a criminal matter from March through July 2003. Respondent had a sexual
relationship with Client A from late fall of 2003 through early spring 2004.
He represented Client A again in a domestic action involving her children from
June 2006 through February 2007.

Although respondent had no active cases
with Client A while he was engaged in the sexual relationship, he did from time
to time give her legal advice on a variety of matters. The Rules of
Professional Conduct did not specifically identify a sexual relationship with a
client as a conflict of interest until after respondent's sexual relationship with
Client A ended;[1] however, respondent acknowledges that his conduct was prohibited by Rule 1.7,
RPC, Rule 407, SCACR.

Matter
II

Respondent's wife is a lawyer.
Respondent's wife represented Client B in a personal injury case and obtained a
settlement on Client B's behalf.

Respondent had a personal relationship
with Client B. Client B asked respondent to act as trustee of her funds.
Client B had an independent attorney draft a trust agreement naming respondent
as trustee.

Respondent's wife issued a series of
checks payable to respondent on behalf of Client B totaling $17,600.00.
Respondent did not consider his relationship with Client B to be
attorney-client, but more like family; however, he acknowledges that, at a
minimum, he had a fiduciary relationship with Client B and that he was bound by
the Rules of Professional Conduct regarding the safekeeping of funds.

Respondent did not place Client B's
funds in a trust account but, rather, negotiated the checks to cash and kept
the cash in his office safe. Respondent represents he cashed the checks at
Client B's request because she liked to come into the office and view the
money.

Respondent used the funds to provide
Client B with food, clothing, an apartment, and other personal necessities.
Respondent did not maintain contemporaneous records of his disbursement of
funds to and on behalf of Client B. Further, respondent admits that some of
the payments were from his law firm operating account, rather than cash from
the safe. Although respondent has demonstrated that he made payments to or on
behalf of Client B equal to the amount of funds received on her behalf and that
no funds were missing, he admits he did not comply with the requirements of
Rule 417, SCACR.

In addition, respondent admits he loaned
money to Client B. Although he charged no fees or interest or other
consideration for the loan, he acknowledges it was improper for him to provide
financial assistance to a client.

LAW

Respondent admits that, by his misconduct,
he has violated the following Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 407, SCACR: Rule
1.7 (lawyer shall not represent client if
the representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest; concurrent
conflict of interest exists if there is significant risk that the
representation of client will be materially limited by personal interest of
lawyer); Rule 1.8(e) (lawyer shall not provide financial assistance to client);
and Rule 1.15(a) (lawyer shall maintain client funds in an account; lawyer
shall maintain client funds separately from lawyer's personal funds). Respondent
further admits he failed to comply with the financial recordkeeping provisions
of Rule 417, SCACR. Respondent acknowledges that his misconduct constitutes
grounds for discipline under the Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement,
Rule 413, SCACR, specifically Rule 7(a)(1) (it shall be ground for discipline
for lawyer to violate Rules of Professional Conduct) and Rule 7(a)(5) (it shall
be ground for discipline for lawyer to engage in conduct tending to pollute the
administration of justice or to bring the courts or the legal profession into
disrepute or conduct demonstrating an unfitness to practice law).

CONCLUSION

We find that respondent’s misconduct
warrants a public reprimand with conditions. Accordingly, we accept the
Agreement for Discipline by Consent and publicly reprimand respondent for his
misconduct. Respondent shall 1) complete
the Ethics School and Trust Account School portions of the Legal Ethics and
Practice Program within six (6) months of the date of this order and 2) pay the
costs incurred by ODC and the Commission in the investigation and prosecution
of this matter within sixty (60) days of the date of this order.